This Tuesday's MLB All-Star Game in San Diego will feature the best and brightest players in baseball.

One of the most deserving, however, won't be there. A superstar on two continents - known simply by his first name - will be staying home

Ichiro Suzuki will join one of Major League Baseball's most exclusive clubs in the next few days or so. He is only a few hits shy of 3,000. This feat is made even more remarkable by the fact that he also tallied over 1,200 hits playing professionally for nearly a decade in his home country of Japan.

Some, like Pete Rose, would seek to keep the two records separate, but there's no denying that Ichiro, with more than 4,000 professional hits, is a master at his craft. He's also been very quiet about it, which perhaps explains why he didn't make this year's All-Star cut.

The 42-year-old Ichiro said last week that he'd love to play until he's 50. The Marlins signed him to a one-year contract this season, so what comes next is still to be determined.

If Ichiro had announced 2016 as his final year - as some expected going into spring training - surely MLB would have given this future Hall of Famer a special All-Star Game send-off like they did for Cal Ripken, Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter and others. Instead, those farewell tour plans remain in limbo.

When he arrived in America in 2001, Ichiro was an instant success and a major attraction. From the curiosity of using his first name on the back of his uniform (a rarity, but a custom he actually began in Japan) his rocket arm from the outfield and his rookie record 242 hits, Ichiro's style drew a legion of admiring fans in every city he visited with the Mariners.

In his first year, Suzuki did something that nobody has done before or since, simultaneously winning the Rookie of the Year, AL MVP, Silver Slugger and Gold Glove awards. He also was selected to start in that year's All Star Game.

His slender build belies the fact that Ichiro was born to play baseball at a high level. He is a hit machine, dependable and productive in that tiny frame - even more diminutive compared to the mega-sized bodies that he played against during baseball's PED era.

Batting record after record fell by the wayside as Ichiro was Seattle's model of consistency at the plate for 10 years.

When his average dimmed a bit in 2012, Ichiro asked for a mid-season trade to the Yankees so that the Mariners could rebuild with younger players. They accommodated him. I got to know him during his brief time in the Bronx.

While the language barrier was a bit of a challenge, I was used to conducting interviews through Japanese translators, thanks to Ichiro's fellow countryman, Hideki Matsui. Suzuki was always gracious in granting time to me and to my peers in the media.

What strikes me the most about Ichiro is his humility, especially when it comes to leaving a positive legacy. When I asked him how he wanted to be remembered, he said, "I'd like people, especially young kids, to look at me and see that I'm not muscular or a big guy. They will notice that I'm just regular-sized, even smaller than some of my teammates.

"If somebody with a body like me can play in a way that helps teams win, then others can too. Kids who dream of playing baseball shouldn't worry what people think or how they look or how big they are. They should just move forward with their goals and work hard to achieve them, like I did. That would make me happy."

Derek Jeter recently gave his seal of approval to Ichiro's international career when he said, "4,000 hits is a pretty impressive mark. I don't care if it's 4,000 in Little League, it shows how consistent he's been everywhere he's been. Look at how many hits he's got in a short amount of time. That's difficult to do. Ichiro is as great as anyone who has ever played this game."

Despite his omission from this year's squad, Ichiro Suzuki remains one of baseball's all-time all-stars. When he finally does say sayonara to the game, he will leave it as an exemplary role model and ambassador, one who helped to bridge two cultures and deliver our national pastime to a much wider audience.